It would seem a feature of the Trump Era is that every few months or so we get a new mind-blowing book with stories from the White House, damning quotes from high-profile staffers and more little tidbits about the way Donald Trump‘s brain works. The latest edition of “What Will People Say About the President Next?” comes to us from none other than Watergate journalist and co-author of All the President’s Men,Bob Woodward.

In his latest book, Fear, Woodward reveals even more about the inner workings and total dysfunction plaguing the Trump administration. The Washington Post — on which Woodward remains a member of staff — released an in-depth breakdown of some of the more scandalous moments in the book along with audio of a phone call between Woodward and the president.

There’s a lot to unpack here, so let’s get into it.

The best excerpts

The book won’t be released to the public until September 11, but between the excerpts revealed in the Washington Post article and comments from those who have advanced copies, we’ve got a pretty good idea of what kind of juicy gossip we’re getting. Woodward explains that the book is sourced from “deep background” witness reports, meaning the accounts are solid but the sources are to remain anonymous.

John Kelly’s worst job ever

Chief of Staff John Kelly was supposed to bring order to the White House but it looks like it’s just wearing him down. The book quotes Kelly calling the president “unhinged” and the whole administration “Crazytown.”

“He’s an idiot,” he said of Trump, “It’s pointless to try to convince him of anything. He’s gone off the rails. We’re in Crazytown. I don’t even know why any of us are here. This is the worst job I’ve ever had.”

He didn’t want to testify anyway

The WaPo article begins by describing a scene where White House lawyer John Dowd questioned Donald Trump to convince the latter that he shouldn’t testify in front of Special Counsel Robert Mueller in the Russia investigation. Over the course of questioning, Trump apparently lied and contradicted himself repeatedly until finally declaring, “This thing’s a goddamn hoax,” and launching into a 30-minute rant that ended with him admitting he doesn’t want to testify.

Dowd also reportedly said to Mueller when negotiating if Trump would testify or not, “I’m not going to sit there and let him look like an idiot. And you publish that transcript, because everything leaks in Washington, and the guys overseas [meaning foreign dignitaries] are going to say, ‘I told you he was an idiot. I told you he was a goddamn dumbbell. What are we dealing with this idiot for?'”

Trump’s biggest regret

Trump got a lot of heat last year after the Charlottesville protest and counter-protest where a white supremacist killed a young woman and dozens more were hurt. In his initial response, Trump said that there were “fine people” on “both sides” of the conflict, implying that there are “very fine” white supremacists and neo-Nazis. A few days later, at the urging of staffers, he walked back his statements, but according to Woodward, he regretted the walk-back almost immediately.

Jeff sessions attack

A theme throughout the book (which a glance at the president’s Twitter feed would suggest is accurate) is Trump’s disdain for Attorney General Jeff Sessions. The president has been vocal about feeling betrayed by Sessions recusing himself from the Russia investigation and said that he wouldn’t have appointed him to the role had he known he would do that.

According to Fear‘s reporting, Trump has called Sessions “a traitor” for his recusal and mocked the AG’s accent saying, “This guy is mentally retarded. He’s this dumb Southerner … He couldn’t even be a one-person country lawyer down in Alabama.”

The phone call

Throughout the process of writing the book, Woodward had sought out an interview with Trump, pursuing several members of the administration to that end. On August 14, the president called the reporter asking why he hadn’t included or even attempted to include an interview with himself in the then-complete manuscript.

The Washington Post published the audio of that call with their article as well as a separate transcript.

Basically, through some simple questioning, Woodward gets Trump to admit that several people including Kellyanne Conway and Lindsey Graham told him about the book and that Woodward wanted to talk with him.

The phone call is a highly-recommended 11 minutes and three seconds of pure confusion.

Bob Woodward sought an interview with President Trump as he was writing “Fear,” about his presidency.

Trump called Woodward in early August, after the manuscript had been completed, to say he wanted to participate.

General reaction

The White House and several parties represented in the book have come out to deny they said any of the quotes attributed to them. John Kelly called the book “BS” and “another pathetic attempt to smear people close to President Trump.”

Trump reaction

As expected, Donald Trump did not take the reports well. He vented his thoughts on Twitter over several hours.

The Woodward book has already been refuted and discredited by General (Secretary of Defense) James Mattis and General (Chief of Staff) John Kelly. Their quotes were made up frauds, a con on the public. Likewise other stories and quotes. Woodward is a Dem operative? Notice timing?

The already discredited Woodward book, so many lies and phony sources, has me calling Jeff Sessions “mentally retarded” and “a dumb southerner.” I said NEITHER, never used those terms on anyone, including Jeff, and being a southerner is a GREAT thing. He made this up to divide!

Isn’t it a shame that someone can write an article or book, totally make up stories and form a picture of a person that is literally the exact opposite of the fact, and get away with it without retribution or cost. Don’t know why Washington politicians don’t change libel laws?

Almost everyone agrees that my Administration has done more in less than two years than any other Administration in the history of our Country. I’m tough as hell on people & if I weren’t, nothing would get done. Also, I question everybody & everything-which is why I got elected!

As for Woodward’s credibility? Past Donald Trump praised him on multiple occasions … you know, before his investigative journalism prodded into his own life.

The White House is now at war with legendary journalist Bob Woodward, accusing him of spreading “fabricated stories.” But in the past, Trump has complimented Woodward and praised his work. Here are four (4) examples. pic.twitter.com/UFqsHDzdX4